More Earth Day Resources

Whether you seek ideas for a community service project for Earth Day or ways to use innovative technologies to bring the environment into your classroom, TeachersFIrst has the reviewed resources to meet your needs. This extensive list is a full listing of TeachersFirst resource for Earth Day.

List too long? Explore our "Editors' Choice" resources for Earth Day, selected for their potential to engage and involve your students in both the understanding of scientific concepts surrounding Earth Day and in environmental activism for any time of the year.

You can also narrow your search to a specific topic for earth day or a certain grade range using our keyword search tool in the left column of this page.

This web page offers links to lesson plans for butterfly and life cycle units. [Unfortunately, a couple of the lesson ideas are now dead links, but the remaining ones are good.] The lesson plans are user-friendly and geared toward primary grades. You can also obtain information on applying for grants to create a butterfly garden at your school. That would make a fantastic Earth Day project for a classroom or entire school to promote team work.

In the Classroom

As an anticipatory set or activator, try using a projector with a few of the images found at the "Photo Gallery" link at the left on this site. Your children will be very excited to OOOO and Ahhh at the beautiful pictures.

This tool allows you to calculate your contribution to greenhouse gasses by answering questions about lifestyle and behavior. A kids' version is also available. The calculator is intended for adults but is quite applicable to teenagers, especially those who drive a car. This site also includes ways to "offset" carbon emissions through tree planting, etc. Some of the information is part of initiatives for which the organization solicits funds, but the research and data are informative and sobering.

This resource was featured in a recent New Teacher Hotline Podcast as one of the Tech Toolbox resources. Hear more about it on the podcast .

In the Classroom

Share this and the kids' calculator on your teacher web site and ask students to come up with a plan to decrease their carbon emissions as part of your unit on environmental issues. This could be a "real world" connection in geography study of natural resources or a science class on climate change.

Find information and activities for elementary and middle school students on environmental issues. Check out the featured creatures of the month, frogs, and student research tools or share printable activities and coloring pages on environmental themes, including recycling, pollution, and more. Although the information was created for Minnesota's kids, it applies almost anywhere. The Frogs for Kids page has facts that are sure to be a hit as you study amphibians!

Help your elementary and middle school students learn about water quality and conservation -- and what human behaviors affect them. Explore run-off, home and garden habits, aquatic life, terminology, and more in these simple interactive pages. If it's about water, you can find it here, along with lesson plans or activities to help your students understand. One link require purchase of a CD, but there is plenty to do without spending money! Middle school activities include the activity sheets in both Word and Acrobat formats.

In the Classroom

Share these activities as part of your Earth Day plans or whenever you study about water and pollution. Be sure to include the link on your teacher web page so students can share the ideas at home, as well.

This page has good basic information on the value of worms in our environment, and they include some ways to make it fun, as well, such as with the "worms crawl in" song!(requires Quicktime). Click to learn about other Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle measures in conjunction with composting. Younger students will need someone to read for them.

NOVA provides a wide array of information on global dimming, a crisis due to the masking effect of pollution on the true impact of global warming. See interactive timelines of global change, some creative pollution solutions, and more. There is a complete teacher's guide, including hands-on classroom activities and extensive related links. This site is a companion to the PBS television broadcast.

In the Classroom

Use this site as a starting point for your discussion of global warming and environmental issues or as a research source for student projects. The interactive timeline would display well on a projector or interactive whiteboard to give students the "big picture" they so rarely have on their own.

Environmental pollution might be causing a bigger problem in your community than you may believe. And whose fault is it? Just enter your zip code into this site's search feature, and receive an online report detailing the pollutants in your neighborhood, who is responsible for them, and what health risks they produce. In addition, you can discover the geographic areas and companies that have the worst pollution records, and find out how to "Take Action" by faxing a polluting company, emailing the governor of your state, or network with environmental groups within your community.

Enter this virtual exhibit to view satellite photos of some of the world's most amazing geographic and geologic treasure. Basic maps are provided to show visitors the approximate location of each strange and awe-inspiring art form. Dramatic deforestation in the Amazon Basin, the West Fjords of Iceland, and the Lambert Glacier in Antarctica are among the breathtaking images included in the collection. Use this site to inspire your art students, illustrate a geographic concept, or enrich an environmental science lesson.

Help students recognize that Earth Day is every day with this thought-provoking resource that addresses the interconnections between the environment, population, poverty, consumption and conflict. Start with the Teacher's Corner page which provides an impressive collection of downloadable activities and interdisciplinary lesson plans aligned to national standards (click on "download curriculum" to access this feature). Informational text is provided in both 60 second and in depth versions. Choose based on the reading lefel of your students. Check out the "Service Learning" opportunities for practical ideas on engaging your students in critical local and global issues. Created by Facing the Future, a non-profit organization.

While this day of recognition (April 21) may be better known in California, Muir's legacy of concern for conservation had a national impact, as is evident from this Sierra Club site. In addition to documents relating to creating the California holiday, teachers will find a John Muir Day study guide in Adobe Acrobat format that outlines Muir's life and the conservation issues for which he fought.

This web site from a consortium of several thousand environmental organizations offers a great collection of resources to build awareness of ecological issues and inspire both individual and collective action. These include several games that let students discover how well they and their families conserve resources. Try the Ecological Footprint Quiz.

Power from garbage? It's not as silly as it sounds, and this EPA site offers lots of illustrations showing how solid waste and recycling programs can contribute to meeting growing energy needs. Try this one as part of an earth day event, or as the basis for a science project or demonstration.

The US Department of Agriculture offers this section with ten different backyard activities that can help teach conservation principles. Most of these could also be easily adapted to the environment around a school. The site includes printable PDF files for each activity. Try this one if you need a "take home" resource for a conservation or earth day activity.

Here's a site that highlights a selection of endangered species, explains the importance of habitats, and introduces the concept of biodiversity. Some of the examples are Pennsylvania specific, but the presentation is simple and the overall principles apply anywhere.

Here's a long page describing community-based activities around Earth Day themes. Some of these require extensive adult cooperation, but many are projects students could conduct mostly on their own. Some of the supplementary resources are unique to the Kansas City, MO area, where the page originated. Use this one as a resource when someone asks, "What can we do ourselves?"